Week 1

Victorian Revivalism:

Neoclassicism vs
Gothic Revival
The History of Interior Design 2
INT262
 Victorian Revivalism - Context
c.1837 - 1901
- Queen Victoria reigns 1837-1901
- Period of industrialisation and commercial expansion
- Empire generates further wealth: materials are imported from
colonies; goods are exported to them

- Population growth in Britain: from 18.5m in 1841 to 37m in 1901

(over 6m in London)

- Transportation (roads, canals and, more revolutionary, railways)

- All this creates unprecedented wealth for industrial and
merchant classes (taking power away from church, state &
aristocracy = new tastes)
 Victorian Revivalism
c.1837 - 1901
- Why Stylistic Variety? (Revivalism)
- Revised view of history: each civilisation should be judged on its
own merits by its own criteria

- Challenging the notion of Classical authority (or any authority?)

- The aesthetic of the Picturesque and Sublime (moving away
from classically ʻcorrectʼ rules of beauty to the appreciation of
irregularity and the unexpected)

- Variety of styles itself a source of delight

- Styles follow each other and change quicker than ever before
Parthenon, Athens, Greece (431 B.C.)
Pantheon, Rome, Italy (126 AD)
Interior: Pantheon, Rome, Italy (126 AD)
British Museum (established 1753, present location opened 1857)
Robert Smirke
John Soane’s Museum (1792 - 1824)
John Soane
Refined Neoclassicism
John Soane’s Museum (1792 - 1824)
John Soane
Bank of England Rotunda
(1788 - 1833)
John Soane
Bank of England (1788 - 1833)
John Soane
Romanticism and the Picturesque

- Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of

Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful (1757)

- Worship of nature
- A more rugged picture
Italian Coastal Landscape (1642)
Claude Lorraine
Oil on canvas
Engravings by William Gilpin
 Victorian Revivalism
c.1837 - 1901

Picturesque or Ornamental Gothic

An emotional or romantic response to the Gothick

(relating to the Dark Ages)

Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill

Strawberry Hill, Twickenham (from 1747)
Horace Walpole et al.
 Victorian Revivalism
c.1837 - 1901

Structural Gothic

A.W.N. Pugin and the Revival of ancient practice and

construction
- From 1830s onwards the Gothic becomes
the most powerful alternative to the
Classical styles

- Thought by many to be a ‘national’ style

- Growing amount of philosophy and theory

to support the importance of the Gothic.

- Role of John Ruskin and A.W.N. Pugin

John Ruskin (1819-1900)
A.W.N. Pugin (1812-52)
Salisbury Cathedral, 12th century
Contrasts (1836)
A.W.N. Pugin
What is being shown here?
What is being contrasted here?
Contrasts (1836)
A.W.N. Pugin
New Westminster Palace (Houses of Paliament), 1844-1852
Charles Barry (exterior) and A.W.N. Pugin (interior)
Peers’ Lobby
A.W.N. Pugin
House of Lords
A.W.N. Pugin
House of Lords
A.W.N. Pugin
Sovereign’s Throne
A.W.N. Pugin
Handrail detail
A.W.N. Pugin
House of Commons
A.W.N. Pugin
House of Commons, Rebuilt 1941
Giles Gilbert Scott
Undercroft Chapel
A.W.N. Pugin
Westminster Hall (1097)
St. Stephen’s Hall
A.W.N. Pugin
All Saints, Margaret Street (1849 - 59)
William Butterfield
Oxford University Museum (1858)
Deane & Woodward
Influenced by John Ruskin. What style is this?
Oxford University Museum
Deane & Woodward, 1858

How is this different to Pugin’s

interiors?
Why would this image be
important to those like Ruskin
and Pugin?
What is the relevance of this detail?
Reflective questions:

- Do you prefer classical or gothic? Neither?! Explain.

- What is your opinion on Gothic Revivalism?

- Do you think architecture and design can improve our

moral standards/behaviour? Why do you think Pugin and
Ruskin believed this?

- Why do you think designers looked to the past for

inspiration throughout the 19th century?

- Do we have ‘national’ styles today? Why did the Victorians

want a national style?